The Pink Panther (TV series)
The Pink Panther is an animated series based on the cartoon character developed for the opening credits of The Pink Panther (1963). The character was developed in the animation studio by Friz Freleng and David H. DePatie . In the German-speaking world, the pink panther is also often referred to as the Paulchen Panther .
Emergence
In preparation for his new film The Pink Panther , the director Blake Edwards turned to the young animation studio DePatie-Freleng with the order to animate the opening credits , in which a pink panther should appear. In the crime comedy itself, a special diamond has this colored designation. Edwards chose a study by Hawley Pratt from among hundreds of designs for the figure . He directs the title sequence as well as many of the following Pink Panther cartoons.
The response from critics and the audience to this opening credits with its original protagonist was extremely positive. The studio decided to produce its own cartoons for the cinema with the Pink Panther , although the tradition of supporting films in the cinema was already dying out by the early 1960s . Friz Freleng himself had lost his job at Warner Brothers ( Bugs Bunny , Daffy Duck and others) shortly before founding his own animation studio when the animation department was closed there in 1962. Short animated films experienced their golden age before the main film in the 1940s and 1950s, when William Hanna and Joseph Barbera ( Tom and Jerry , MGM ), Tex Avery (MGM), Chuck Jones and other timeless classics of the genre created.
movie theater
The pilot Suspense Account , produced by David DePatie and Friz Freleng, was never released. The Pink Smearfink (1964) was the first Pink Panther cartoon to be shown in cinemas. In it, a little white man tirelessly paints the white walls, doors and pillars of a house with blue paint, while the pink panther uses all sorts of playful tricks to turn everything pink. The film, which was kept practically only in the colors pink, blue, white and black (for the contours), won the Oscar for best animated short film in 1964 ; In 1966, The Pink Blueprint received an Oscar nomination. The nameless little man appears in variations in most of the following works as an opponent of the pink panther.
Up to 1980, 124 short animated films with the pink panther had been produced at irregular intervals. Each film is around six minutes long and begins with the Pink Panther theme by Henry Mancini and an elegant, cigarette-smoking pink panther as seen in the opening credits. The majority of these films were produced for the cinemas and later broadcast on television as part of the children's series.
The abstract, almost surreal look of the opening credits of the Blake Edwards comedy and the first animated film episodes gave way to a more traditional style after the first episodes. The panther's character has also changed slightly. The cheeky elegance that characterized his first appearance in the opening credits was joined by clumsy naivete. Voices can be heard in some scenes - dialogues of the characters or a speaker off-screen addressing the (silent) pink panther, but also well-rehearsed public laughter - but these experiments remained the exception. The Pink Panther himself speaks with a British accent in only two early films: Sink Pink and Pink Ice (both 1965).
watch TV
In 1969 the first Pink Panther Show started in the USA as an animated film series for children. The form and title of the series were slightly changed with each new season. For this children's series, the cartoons produced for the cinema were used. In addition to the Pink Panther cartoons, there were also Inspector short cartoons - also produced for the cinema - the animated version by Inspector Clouseau . ( Erich Ebert lent the German dubbing voice to the inspector .) Other cartoon characters joined them, such as The Blue Elise (who was voiced by Marianne Wischmann ), the toads Sancho and Pancho (Sancho was dubbed by Edgar Ott , Pancho by Thomas Keck ) or the Sheriff Donnerknall and his horse whirlwind ( Klaus Miedel lent his voice to Donnerknall and Hugo Schrader , later Harry Wüstenhagen Wirbelwind). These were specially produced for the television series, as were short transitions between these films. With the success of the television series and the extinction of the unprofitable feature films, from 1978 onwards, production was only for television. In addition, three half-hour special episodes were produced for special occasions and holidays: Pink Christmas (Theme: Christmas, 1978), Olym-Pinks (Olympic Games, 1980), Pink At First Sight (Valentine's Day, 1981).
German version
In Germany, the material offered by the American Pink Panther Show (and the following series) was first broadcast on ZDF in 1973 under the title Der Rosarote Panther - as a guest at Paulchens Trickverwandten . Not only the opening credits and the order of the films were changed. So the panther got the first name Paul or Paulchen. Even more important is the addition of rhyming comments from the off (verses written by Eberhard Storeck , spoken by Gert Günther Hoffmann ), which have become a trademark of the series in German-speaking countries, describe what has been seen and, in some cases, significantly expand it with additional information. The verses create frameworks and local classifications that do not appear in the original. Many verses end with strange remarks or lead to situations.
"Paul has recently been hired
that he will be a guest
at a seaside resort near Celle
As a violinist in the spa orchestra
Where you are welcome and popular
If you don't play wrong and practice a lot."
Another feature of the comments are consistently exaggerated comparisons.
"As uncomfortably soft as long-boiled plum dumplings, it's in your head
after you hit the car door several times."
The song Who turned the clock? Composed by Fred Strittmatter became well known . at the end of each episode. The saying “Today is not every day; I'll be back, no question ”, Paulchen speaks at the end, went into everyday language. The excerpt comes from the fifth Pink Panther episode Sink Pink (1965), in which the Pink Panther speaks his first sentence, in the original: “Why can't man be more like animals?” The song and the saying are on the German-language cartoon collection DVD not included, but the dubbing and additionally the opening credits of the film series.
Later series
In the mid-1980s, The Pink Panther And Sons was produced by Hanna-Barbera . This offshoot with the assistance of Friz Freleng did not get beyond the first season.
A new animated series of the same name was started by MGM in 1993. This time the panther got a voice (that of Norbert Gescher , which sounds very similar to Gert Günther Hoffmann's voice), which was received with astonishment by many fans. Many also missed the charm of the classic Pink Panther films. After three seasons, this new edition was also discontinued.
In 2010 another program called Pink Panther and Pals was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Its 26 episodes were first broadcast in Germany under the title Der rosarote Panther und Freunde on the pay-TV channel Boomerang 2010.
Others
- Similar to other comic characters, the pink panther can be found on countless merchandising products, from lingerie and computer games to soft toys.
- The pink (magenta) panther was used by Deutsche Telekom when it was founded in 1995 and afterwards as an advertising figure.
- Nelson Shin worked as an animator on the series from the 1970s.
- The terrorist organization National Socialist Underground (NSU) used excerpts of the consequences for their confessors DVDs published by the BKA.
Web links
- The Pink Panther Show (1969–1976) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The pink panther at Fernsehserien.de
- Page at Serienoldies.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Intro The Pink Panther on YouTube .
- ↑ Paulchen Panter - Who turned the clock? on YouTube .
- ↑ Pink Panther & Pals. March 7, 2010, accessed November 8, 2016 .
- ↑ Overview of episodes' Der rosarote Panther und Freunde. fernsehserien.de, accessed on November 8, 2016 .
- ↑ Investigators discover more NSU terror videos (Zeit Online)